Everything once again, fell completely silent. It seemed as if I couldn't even hear my own heart beating. I slowed my breathing.
What just happened? What did I do? I crouched into a ball, closed the book, and tucked it under my chin.
I heard more than one set of footsteps walk through the door.
"At last, Sisters, we're home!" hissed a happy voice. It was followed by giggling.
As I sat, Three figures entered the cottage as the sound of feet moving across the floor filled the room. They were women, all three of them dressed in what I was at first assuming to be Halloween costumes. One of them who looked significantly older than the other two, crept out in front. She had a messy head of wild, curly, red hair pinned up in a peculiar shape, and the most awkward buck teeth I had ever seen.
The one to her left was chubby, and had black hair, and bright red lips. She began to snigger quietly as she followed the one with the bucked teeth.
The third was decently pretty, I guess you could say. She looked the youngest of them all. But she was pale as a ghost, which clashed horribly with her almost-white hair.
I dug my nails into the binding of the book. Whoever these women were, they sure seemed like people I didn't want to interact with. They crept through the cottage, scanning every inch of it. After a few moments, the red-headed one straightened up and made her way over to the cauldron. There, she ran her finger along the rim, and began rolling the dust between two fingers, just as I had done.
"Well, at least it feels like we're home," she remarked. She quickly pivoted on her heel and faced the other two.
"This places looks like it's gone to hell and back," she hissed.
I watched intently, just hoping that she wouldn't notice me as she made her way over to the display case. A look of horror spread across her face when she saw the book wasn't there. She raised a fist, and slammed it down.
"My book!" She turned to them again.
"Sisters, my book hath gone missing again!"
The chubby woman stopped, and her hands immediately cupped her dimpled face.
"Oh, Winnie! That's awful!"
The woman called "Winnie" made an ugly snorting noise with her nostrils. She twitched her head wildly for a moment, and made a strange hand gesture.
Suddenly, the youngest one hollered from across the room. "Winnie! Mary! Come look!" she pointed out loudly.
I watched as Winnie and Mary joined her at her sides.
"Why, the Black-flamed candle hath not been lit!" said Winnie, surprised.
Wait a minute. Winnie? Mary? My mind shot back to the stories Mallory told me. Were these women who I thought they might be? I hadn't heard the third one's name yet but I had a bad feeling it was gonna be Sarah.
Mary began to observe her hands carefully, as if the answer to her question lay upon them.
"But, Winnie, how art we alive if the candle has not been lit?" she asked hysterically.
Winnie made two fists and shook them angrily.
"I have not a clue! But I shalt find out!"
She began to angrily stomp across the room, as my mother often did.
Winnie was nearing my hiding spot, when Mary shouted: "Winnie, wait!"
Winnie halted. "What does thou want?" she hissed.
Mary smiled. "I. Smell... children," she said excitedly.
Winnie smiled a breath of relief and faced her sisters. "Mary. Sarah. Sick 'em," she instructed.
Yup. It was Sarah. What the fuck was happening?
Mary began to sniff the air, as if she were a dog. It was so weird. Sarah and Winnie jumped to her sides, and they began searching in unison. Could they really smell me? No, they had to just be on drugs or something! Weirdos really did come out on full moons.
Still, I clung to the book. I closed my eyes and began to cringe as their footsteps became dangerously close.
"Ahhhh...," I heard Winnie say. "What hath we here?"
A hand reached down and grabbed the back of my sweatshirt. I was then pulled to my feet. My eyes jerked open as someone snatched the book from my hands. I found myself staring into the faces of all three of them. What was I supposed to do now?
They were the Sanderson Sisters! And I had brought them back!
Should I lash out? Should I scream? I decided that the best thing was to stand idle.
Winnie smiled evilly and got close to me.
"My, my, my, what a pretty...child," she choked. She handed the book to Mary and locked arms with me, pulling me at her side.
"Tell me, child, what is the year?"
"Two thousand and twelve," I replied, trembling. Winnie's skin felt ice cold.
Winnie's head snapped toward her sisters. "Another nineteen years," she hissed.
"Mayhap we can survive longer, this time. After all, we have a child, right here," Winnie crooned, turning me around, and shoving me into a chair. She cackled and took the book back from Mary. She began stroking the spine of it.
"Tell me, child, what be thy name?"
"Kaytrina," I replied. I said my real name before I had time to make one up.
Winnie let out a loud cackle. She licked her lips hungrily and slowly walked toward the cauldron, flipping through the pages of the book. She walked with pride in her strides. "If thou didn't know, I am Winifred Sanderson, and those are my idiotic sisters, Mary and Sarah."
So I guess the legend was true. The Sandersons were actually evil witches and I had resurrected them from the grave. Awesome. Way to go Kayti.
I didn't know what to do. I sat, trying my best to hide my fear, as Mary and Sarah began to poke at me. Mary poked around my nose, my ears and my mouth. Sarah had developed an obsession with my neck, and was fingering the muscles in my throat. Her fingers sent a tingling sensation down my spine, causing me to wriggle. I felt very odd. Sarah moved her touchy hands down to my jacket, where she began to figure out the zipper. She had fully unzipped me, and she sprang back.
"Uh! Winnie?" she said worriedly.
"What be the matter?" Winnie hissed.
Mary gulped loudly. Sarah began to coward. "This be not a child, Winnie," Sarah managed to squeak out.
Winifred hissed. She slammed her book shut and flew over to us. She stood before me, staring at my tiny body. Were they basing this conclusion on the size of my boobs? There was practically nothing there! But oh well. If I was too developed to be considered a child by their standards, that was probably a good thing.
Winifred's eyes became almost dark and she bared her front teeth. She hissed again and swept angrily toward the opposite side of the cottage.
"Your right, Sarah!" she said. She began pacing before the window.
"She is no child. She's much too old for the potion to work."
Mary looked puzzled.
"So what do we do with her, Winnie?" she asked, quirking a brow.
Winifred paced, a hand upon her face, just pondering on what she could do to me. She quickly schemed up an idea.
She snapped her fingers.
"I've got it! Since we can't use her for a life force, why don't we imprison her. After all, this place could use a little tidying-up."
She narrowed her eyes at me and smiled evilly, sending a shiver down my spine.
Sarah started to giggle and clap her hands wildly like a child. She danced about the cottage floor, and made her way over to what looked like the door to a closet. She revealed a normal broom, and threw it at me. I caught it, and sat still. So now I was the housekeeper for the Sanderson Sisters? I began to wonder if my mother had somehow laced that peanut butter I ate earlier with something, because this whole situation seemed like a bad trip.
Winifred approached me, laid her hands on the arms of the chair, and leaned down into my face. "Dost thou comprehend?" she asked lowly.
I nodded.
"Good!" she shrieked, swooping away from me, her dress hitting me in the face.
I did as I was asked, and began sweeping the floor awkwardly. This was the weirdest Halloween ever. Though this easily could have just been a group of women on drugs playing some fucked up game, something deep inside me told me this was real and to be very, very careful.
Behind me, the Sanderson Sisters crowded around the cauldron, just staring into it.
"Well, Winnie," said Mary. "What do we do now?"
Winifred cackled again, I take it she liked cackling.
"Now, we feed ourselves with the delectable population of children in this town," she hissed happily.
"We must fly and collect ingredients for the potion."
I stopped sweeping for a second, and raised my brows. Feed ourselves? Children? So it was true! They did prey upon children! And it was probably also true that they killed that little girl the night they were executed!
Just then, Winifred screamed, and a bolt of lightning struck past me, bounced off a window, hit a bottle, which fell over and startled me.
"Did I say to stop sweeping, hmmmm?" Winifred asked.
I began to sweep again.